“What kind of life do you imagine when you hear ‘a day in the life of a university student’? A life with a lot of assignments and chased by deadlines?”
By Nanaho
3rd Year, Interdisciplinary Arts Major
What kind of life do you imagine when you hear “a day in the life of a university student”? A life with a lot of assignments and chased by deadlines? A life filled with entertainment with your friends? Or a life you work hard and have fun at the same time? You might be looking forward to your new life, but feeling a little bit worried at the same time.
Every university student’s life varies depending on which courses you are taking, your work time, your sleep schedule, and many different factors. However, hoping this will be helpful, here is a day in the life of iCLA student who is living in the dorm.
7:00 Start of the day
My day starts at 7:00, especially when I have a morning class that starts at 9:00. After I wake up, I’ll get ready for the class and do some stretches to refresh my mind. During winter, I boil some water while I’m preparing for the class to make some coffee. A room filled with the smell of coffee is the best to start the day! Taking enough time to get ready and eat breakfast helps me to make a small space in a busy life, and makes my day a better one.
9:00-18:10 Classes
Class hours are 9:00-18:10 with a one-hour lunch break, but the schedule really differs depending on which courses you are taking. Sometimes all of my classes are squashed into the afternoon schedule, begin at 9:00, or have some free time in between the classes.
If I have no class until the afternoon, I wake up as usual and work on my assignments. I can’t tell you how much it feels good when I could finish my assignments in the morning. Try to keep wake-up time and sleep time together to not to mess up your sleep cycle.
Usually, I have three to four classes, including some workshops.
During class, I usually take a lot of notes except for P.E. The purpose of notetaking differs between courses. For literature, I take notes to organize my thoughts, get different thoughts from classmates; for history, it is to review before quizzes; for political science, it is to get additional information to understand deeply.
I do varieties of things between classes; grab some coffee with my friend, have meetings with professors, do some assignments, have a chat with friends. When classes are in-person, I tend to stay in the academic building and not return to my room, since how much you can use your free time wisely is a key to success. When all classes are held online, I stayed in my room, because it is the quiet and best place for me to focus. When I get distracted, I get some stretching done or prepare a cup of tea to keep myself focused, or get out of the room and stay in the common space of my dorm unit.
18:10-23:00
After I finish with my classes, often I’m out of energy, so usually, I go back to my room and rest until dinner time. I eat dinner with my unit mate and catch up with what we had. We sometimes keep chatting until late or work on assignments together after we had dinner. When I’m exhausted with my assignments, I feel like I want to work on my assignments while I’m eating, but actually, talking with my unit mate helps me to refresh my brain.
I usually work on the rest of the assignments after dinner, because I need to recharge my energy.
23:00-24:00 Bedtime
Around 23:00, I start getting ready for going to bed. Even if I am not done with all my assignments, I try to sleep earlier and wake up earlier to keep my sleep cycle. After setting an alarm for the next morning and putting my smartphone aside, it is time to read some books. Since I am focusing on literature in my major, there are lots of literature to read, but a bookworm can’t give up on reading. Finishing the day with favorite things helps to release some stress, but don’t stay up too late.
Personally, I think routine is another key to success. It will help to make your life easier and better. As time goes on in the semester, the workload is likely to be heavier and more time-consuming compared to the beginning of the semester, so remember to keep some time for yourself too!